Hydrant Armor

Abstract

HYDRANT ARMOR is an enclosure that protects fire hydrants from all weather and environmental conditions and has light reflective features incorporated on the exterior of the enclosure to ensure its visibility in darkness. When fitted with a tall reflective post, fire hydrants can be located even when they are covered in snow. Hydrant valves and hose connection caps are protected from natural elements and corrosion while they are within the hollow enclosure. The enclosure is suspended off the ground so as not to become frozen to the ground, and is held in place with an integral bracket that is attached to the hydrant. The open bottom of the enclosure fits over and locks onto the bracket and can be removed from the hydrant without tools. The conical shape of the enclosure, tapered at the bottom, will prevent the enclosure from binding in deep snow.

Description

HYDRANT ARMOR is an enclosure that protects fire hydrants from all weather conditions and has light reflective features incorporated on the exterior of the enclosure to ensure its visibility in darkness. When fitted with a tall reflective post, hydrants can be located even when they are covered in snow. Hydrant valves and hose connection caps are protected from natural elements and corrosion while they are within the hollow enclosure. The enclosure is suspended off the ground so as not to become frozen to the ground, and is held in place with an integral bracket that is attached to the hydrant. The open bottom of the enclosure fits over and locks onto the bracket and can be removed from the hydrant without tools. The conical shape of the enclosure, tapered at the bottom, will prevent the enclosure from binding in deep snow. Hydrants enclosed with Hydrant Armor will require less maintenance as they will not be exposed to natural corrosive elements. Firefighters will always have immediate access to fire hydrants that are protected with the Hydrant Armor enclosure.

• • Provisional Patent #62/453,064, filed Feb. 1, 2017, expired
  • USPTO Customer number: 145573, date mailed Jan . 11, 2017
    U.S. Patents that may claim some comparison but are dissimilar:

U.S. Pat. No. 6,935,360 Filed Aug. 30, 2005, expired Oct. 17, 2017. FIRE HYDRANT PROTECTIVE COVER AND VISIBILITY MARKER. There are no recorded sales of this mushroom shaped cover. There is no apparent method of connecting this cover to a hydrant. This cover sits directly on the ground so it has the potential for it to become frozen to the ground thereby rendering the enclosed hydrant inaccessible and therefore inoperable. And with its 5 foot height and 5 foot width at the top, it is unstable and prone to fall absent of any method to hold it in place. The inventor suggests using a chain connection to prevent theft but fails to describe how to connect a chain.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,536,462 Filed Mar. 25, 2003, expired May 12, 2015. FIRE HYDRANT COVER. There may be limited sales but there is no current activity. Its tent like design has a wide bottom and narrow top. Any amount of snow will “anchor” this cover to the ground rendering the enclosed hydrant inaccessible and therefore inoperable as snow will accumulate at increasing rates along the diminishing upward width of the cover. The time required to remove snow and ice from this cover to gain access to the hydrant would potentially exceed the time it would take to clear snow and ice from an unprotected hydrant. Additionally, the described method of attaching this cover to the hydrant at ground level could make the cover's removal even harder and more time consuming especially after a freeze-thaw-refreeze cycle.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1—Profiles of the hydrant enclosure at right angles to each other: Profile 1 shows the enclosure handles 3 at a side view. Profile 2 shows a handle 3 along its horizontal grip. Air vents 4 are located under the handles 3. The diameter at the bottom 5 is smaller than the diameter at the top 6 of the conical cylinder. The dome 7 is curved with a cap 8 at the center. A reflective post (not shown) may be attached to the cap 8. The conical cylinder (at) 6 and the dome 7 are separated from each other with a band 9 which incorporates the handles 3 and air vents 4.

FIG. 2—A top view of the hydrant enclosure: The cap 8 is in the center and has a hole to install a reflective post. The outside circumference of the band 9 incorporates the handles 3.

FIG. 3—A view of the underside of the hydrant enclosure: Here, the opening 10 is shown where the enclosure fits over a fire hydrant and connects to a bracket (described in FIG. 4) that is attached to the fire hydrant.

FIG. 4—A top view of the bracket: The bracket 11 is attached to a fire hydrant along the bracket's inner circumference 12 and fits to the outer circumference of the barrel of a fire hydrant. The bracket 11 has various positions 13 along its inner circumference to allow for varying diameter sizes of fire hydrant barrels when used in conjunction with movable tabs (described in FIG. 6).

FIG. 5—A perspective view of the bracket in position in the enclosure: The bracket 11 incorporates tongues 14 located around its outer circumference. The tongues 14, inclusive of built-in retaining locks 15, slide into channels located inside of the enclosure (described in FIG. 7) to hold and lock the hydrant enclosure 1 in place on the hydrant.

FIG. 6—Tabs: Tabs 16 are set along the inner circumference 12 of the bracket 11 to securely grip the bracket 11 to a hydrant.

FIG. 7—Cross section of lower part of the enclosure: Channels 17 are employed to accept the tongues 14 of the bracket 11.

FIG. 8—Cut-a-way and close-up integration of the bracket and enclosure: This view shows the hydrant enclosure 1 attached to the bracket 11, with the tongue 14 of the bracket 11 inside the channel 17 on the interior of the hydrant enclosure 1.

FIG. 9—The installed hydrant enclosure: This view illustrates that the installed enclosure 1 completely encapsulates the hydrant's valves and hose connection caps and further illustrates that the hydrant enclosure is suspended off the ground.

Claims

1. An enclosure that will protect a fire hydrant's valves and hose connection caps from all weather conditions by encapsulating the valves and hose connection caps within the enclosure's hollow body.

2. Light reflective features incorporated onto the exterior of the enclosure to make the hydrant's location visible in darkness.

3. A method to attach a reflective post to the enclosure so that a hydrant can be located even when the enclosed hydrant is fully covered in deep snow.

4. An integral bracket that is attached to a fire hydrant to hold and suspend the enclosure off the ground and hold the enclosure in place on the fire hydrant.

5. A method of attaching the bracket to a fire hydrant including a way of adjusting the inner diameter of the bracket to fit a variety of different sized hydrants.

6. A method to join the enclosure to the bracket at the open bottom of the enclosure allowing the enclosure to be secured to the fire hydrant.

7. A fire hydrant enclosure that is quickly and easily removed from a hydrant for firefighting or for maintenance utilizing a simple movement to disengage the enclosure from the bracket without the use of tools.

8. A fire hydrant enclosure that, when installed on a fire hydrant, is suspended off the ground so as not to become frozen to the ground.

9. A fire hydrant enclosure that has a conical shape with a bottom diameter smaller than the top diameter to prevent the enclosure from binding in heavy snow or ice and with vents to prevent vacuum air locks or suction during removal of the enclosure.

10. A fire hydrant enclosure with built-in handles to accommodate hand gripping for attaching and removing the enclosure.

11. A fire hydrant enclosure that may stay attached to a fire hydrant year-round.

12. A fire hydrant enclosure that may reduce the frequency of maintenance by protecting fire hydrants from corrosive environmental effects or from any other natural causes of deterioration.

13. A fire hydrant enclosure that provides a buffer around the hard surface of a fire hydrant to protect pedestrians and reduce injury when pedestrians collide or otherwise come in contact with fire hydrants.

14. A fire hydrant enclosure that will not impede with the function of a hydrant.

15. A fire hydrant enclosure that may be red in color or may be any color, and that may contain lettering and/or graphic designs on its exterior.